The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium board voted last night to put a permanent, 1.25-mill property-tax issue on the May ballot, the first time that board members have asked for a continuing levy.

The 17-member board voted unanimously in favor of the levy, which is a half-mill larger than the current 10-year, 0.75-mill levy. An October change in Ohio law, pushed by the zoo, enabled zoos to ask for permanent instead of time-restricted tax issues.

The levy request now will go to the Franklin County commissioners, who will make the final decision on whether it will be placed on the ballot.

“We have great things to accomplish,” said Tom Stalf, the zoo’s president and chief executive officer. He said that passage of the levy would enable the zoo to build a planned Downtown satellite facility, expand the zoo’s aquarium, renovate its North America exhibit, build a new animal hospital, add exhibits and make a variety of other improvements.

Columbus leaders suggested that the zoo add a facility Downtown as part of a redesign of the west bank of the Scioto River. Stalf estimates the facility will cost $50 million to $65 million to complete.

The current levy costs the owner of a $100,000 house in Franklin County $21.29 a year in taxes; the 1.25-mill levy would more than double that — to $43.75 a year.

Franklin County voters approved tax issues for the zoo in 1985, 1990, 1994 and 2004. The current levy, which will expire in 2015, generates $18.5 million a year to fund about 15 percent of the zoo’s operating costs and 80 percent of its capital budget, said Gregory A. Bell, the zoo’s chief financial officer.

The estimated $32.5 million from the proposed levy would pay operating costs of $10 million annually for the main zoo and $4.25 million for a new Downtown facility, as well as capital spending of $12.75 million at the main zoo and $5.5 million at the Downtown facility, Bell said.

Phil Pikelny, chairman of the zoo board and an executive of The Dispatch Printing Company, said a majority of voters would support the proposed levy, based on poll results. Prior levies have had overwhelming support.

He said that if county commissioners place the levy on the ballot, a board committee headed by members John Kulewicz and Sean Mentel will begin a grass-roots campaign to pass it.

The Ohio secretary of state’s filing deadline for May ballot issues is Feb. 5.